Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Melanie Daniels

Melanie is the star of the film; you follow her from San Francisco up the coast to Bodega Bay and through various encounters with the birds. The camera leaves her on occasion (as when Lydia goes out to see her farmer friend), but for the most part, you stick with her as she starts her romance with Mitch and gets threatened by birds.

You need someone to identify with in order to get the pleasure of being terrorized by the birds, and Melanie is the one who fulfills that function. As Hitchcock said, blondes make the best victims. In a horror film, the chief victim is the protagonist—and in a Hitchcock film, that's often going to be the blonde.